My U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,472, issued Oct. 2, 2001(the “'472 patent”), discloses and claims a welding system and method comprising a distributed welding control system that allows a welding operator to program automated welding cycles for various welding operations, that is particularly useful for installing stiffener plates onto structural beams. In the '472 patent, the welding system comprises a welding fixture with a pair of opposing, positionally adjustable welding shoes, and lock screws for attaching a workpiece such as an I-beam. A rotary wire straightener removes the cast and helix from welding wire as it is fed to the welding torch. Straightening the welding wire prevents welding wire from fusing to the copper shoes and keeps the weld puddle in the center of the weld cavity in a manner that would interrupt the welding operation or cause a weld defect.
My U.S. Pat. No. 7,038,159, issued May 2, 2006 (the “'159 patent”), discloses and claims a system and method for Electroslag butt welding expansion joint rails comprising a distributed welding control system. The method includes defining a weld cavity with a first expansion joint rail, a second expansion joint rail, a plurality of gland shoes, and a pair of butt shoes, and can be adapted for welding an expansion joint rail to a support beam.
My U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,443, issued Dec. 12, 2006 (the “'443 patent”), discloses and claims a consumable guide tube comprising a thin first elongate strip, a second elongated strip, and a plurality of insulators. An embodiment of U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,443 comprises a thin first elongate strip which is a low carbon cold rolled steel strip, and a second elongated strip that is a low carbon hot rolled steel strip, and a second elongated strip that is a low carbon hot rolled steel strip is formed with one or more channels to allow the passage of the consumable welding wire. The guide tube of the '443 patent can also be configured to comprise two or more longitudinal channels.
My U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/183,715 (the “'715 Application”) filed Jun. 3, 2009, discloses improving Electroslag welding and Narrow Gap Electroslag welding applications using at least one square wave alternating current welding power supply.
The automated system and method for multi-pass computer controlled narrow-gap Electroslag welding applications combines certain disclosed and claimed features of my patents and/or patent applications described herein, and/or their divisional, continuation, or continuation-in-part progeny, to allow a welding operator to program automated welding cycles for welding heavy plate steel welding operations—including, but not limited to high rise-building fabrication, bridge fabrication, heavy wall pressure vessel fabrication, nuclear vessel manufacturing, offshore platform fabrication; and, as a result, these patents are particularly useful for an automated system and method for multi-pass computer controlled narrow-gap Electroslag/Electro-Gas welding applications.